This invention relates to a game system and an information storage medium.
Game machines that are known in the art permit the selection of a manipulation object to play a game therewith. Examples of these are game machines that present a game such as baseball or soccer.
The description below concerns a game machine that presents a baseball game, by way of example. In a prior-art game machine, data on a plurality of teams is previously stored When a player inserts a coin, a team selection screen is displayed. The player selects a personal favorite from the plurality of teams displayed, and plays the game.
In a system that presents a baseball game, for example, 12 professional baseball teams are displayed as manipulation objects that can be selected. The player selects the team that the player likes, from these 12 baseball teams, to play the game.
With competitive games between teams that are sponsored in different regions, the popularity of each team often varies with the regions in which the game machines are installed. In addition, game machines installed in cities with large populations of people from other areas, such as Tokyo or New York, it often happens that the favored teams vary according to the places of origin of the players.
Moreover, if it were possible for players to know selection rates when selecting teams, as a barometer of how popular each team is, that would often increase the degree of satisfaction of the players with respect to the game. Assume, by way of example, that game machines are installed in Hiroshima and Los Angeles. If it were possible to display to each player the selection rate of local teams sponsored within these regions, together with the selection rate of other teams, when it comes to selecting teams, each player can enjoy the game while being satisfied that the player""s own favorite team is highly popular. Unfortunately, it has not been possible in the art to produce a game that reflects the players"" own interests in the manipulation objects, when such objects are selected.
In a known prior-art game machine, the abilities of baseball teams or other manipulation objects that can be selected are fixed therein when the game machine is shipped.
Thus the abilities of the teams or characters that are the manipulation objects are always the same, no matter which game machine is used for playing the game. This raises a problem in that it is difficult to increase the player""s feeling of participation in the game and thus make the game more interesting.
Particularly with a game in which the selection and game-play relates to manipulation objects that are closely linked to regions, the allegiances of players towards the teams or characters that are the manipulation objects vary widely between regions. For example, in St. Louis, the allegiances to St. Louis baseball teams are high whereas in Los Angeles, the allegiances to Los Angeles baseball teams are high. If it were possible to vary the abilities of a favorite team in accordance with the way in which a player plays the game, this would provide a game that has more interesting contents.
However, no game has yet been provided in prior-art game machine to address this point.
This invention was devised in the light of the above described problems and has as an objective thereof the provision of a game system and information storage medium that reflects the allegiances of a player in the selection objects of the game.
(1) In order to solve the above described technical problems, there is provided a game system which permits selection of any manipulation object from a plurality of manipulation objects, to play a game therewith, the game system comprising:
assessment computation means for computing and storing previous selection assessments for each manipulation object; and
selection processing means for displaying on a display means information indicating the plurality of selectable manipulation objects and information indicating selection assessments for each of the manipulation objects, and for executing processing for enabling a player to select any manipulation object.
An information storage medium in accordance with this aspect of the invention is an information storage medium which can be used by a computer and which comprises information (a program) for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention is a program that can be used by a computer for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention could also be embodied in carrier wave.
With this aspect of the invention, it is possible to confirm from the display of selection assessments which manipulation object is the most popular at that location, during the selection. When the selection rate of the manipulation object that is the player""s own favorite object is high, this enables the player to play the game with a feeling of satisfaction.
Conversely, if the selection rate of the player""s favorite manipulation object is low, this could give the play incentive to play the game repeatedly, to increase the selection rate of the team that is the player""s own favorite.
In this manner, this aspect of the invention makes it possible to provide a game system, information storage medium, or program that can provide players with a game that reflects the players"" allegiances with respect to selection objects.
In this case, it does not matter what the contents of the game are, provided that the game involves the appearance of selected manipulation objects, but it is preferably a competitive type of game in which a manipulation object fights against an opponent. A manipulation object is any type of manipulation object that is set for each type of game, such as a team or character. The information indicating selection assessments includes various selection details, such as selection rate or number of selections. The display of selection assessments is a direct display or indirect display of selection assessments, such as a direct display of selection rate and selection count either numerically or in a bar chart or pie-chart, for example, or an indirect display such that the manipulation object with the highest selection rate is displayed larger.
The display means preferably displays the selection assessments of the manipulation objects on the selection screen for specific manipulation objects in sequence of height of selection rate, or number of selections.
(2) This invention also relates to a game system in which a host machine and a plurality of game terminals are connected by communications lines, such that each of the game terminals selects a manipulation object from among a plurality of manipulation objects, to play a game therewith;
wherein each of the game terminals sends a first signal to the host machine during the selection of the manipulation object and sends information concerning the selected manipulation object as a second signal after the selection of the manipulation object;
wherein the host machine comprises:
means for computing and storing previous selection assessments for the manipulation objects for each region in which the game terminals are installed, based on received second signals; and
means for, when the first signal has been received, sending to a game terminal that is the transfer source of the first signal a third signal comprising selection assessments for the selected manipulation object for the region in which that game terminal is installed; and
wherein the game terminal displays information indicating selection assessments for these selected manipulation object that is based on the received third signal, during the selection processing of the manipulation objects.
This invention further relates to an information storage medium in which is stored information that can be used by a host computer for sending selection assessments of a plurality of manipulation objects through communications lines to a plurality of game terminals which display the received selection assessments, when the game terminals select a manipulation object from among the plurality of manipulation objects for a game, the information storage medium comprising information for implementing:
means for receiving from each of the game terminals a first signal which is sent out during the process of selecting a manipulation object and a second signal indicating the selected manipulation object which is sent out after the manipulation object has been selected;
means for computing and storing previous selection assessments for the manipulation objects for each region in which the game terminals are installed, based on received second signals; and
means for, when the first signal has been received, sending to a game terminal that is the transfer source of the first signal a third signal comprising selection assessments for the selected manipulation object for the region in which that game terminal is installed.
In a game system or information storage medium in accordance with this invention, the host computer computes and stores selection assessments for the manipulation objects for each region in which the game terminals are installed. For example, the host computer computes and stores selection assessments for a group of game terminals that are installed in Osaka and also computes and stores selection assessments for a group of game terminals that are installed in Tokyo. This means that different selection assessments are provided for each manipulation object in Tokyo and Osaka.
This aspect of the invention therefore makes it possible for the host computer to provide the game terminals in each region with information that reflects the selection assessments in that region, thus making it possible to implement a game that reflects the allegiances of players in each region to different manipulation objects.
In particular, this aspect of the invention makes it possible to compute selection assessments for manipulation object, not in individual game terminal units but in region units, and supply them to the game terminals. Thus the player can select the manipulation object that is the player""s own favorite, to enjoy a game therewith, while viewing the selection assessments for the entire region. This makes it possible to provide an interesting game that reflects the allegiances of players in that region.
In this case, communications lines are not limited to wired communications lines such as cables; they could also include satellite communications and wireless communications lines such as in a wireless LAN.
The display of selection assessments could be a display of selection assessments for manipulation objects within all or part of the region, during the selection of manipulation objects.
Furthermore, a configuration could be used in which the display of selection assessments could be a selection assessments of a region that differs from the region in which the player is playing, if necessary. This makes it possible for the player to confirm which team is popular in another region and also makes it possible for the player to select any region then select a selectable manipulation object within that region, to enjoy the game. Thus the player can select and play with the favorite team of the player""s home town, where the game abilities thereof are higher, even from a location that differs from that home town, by selecting the favorite team of the region of the player""s own home town.
(3) The game system in accordance with this invention may further comprise ability adjustment means for increasing abilities of a manipulation object with a higher selection rate or a manipulation object with a large number of selections.
An information storage medium in accordance with this aspect of the invention is an information storage medium which can be used by a computer and which comprises information (a program) for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention is a program that can be used by a computer for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention could also be embodied in a carrier wave.
It is possible to implement a game that reflects the allegiances of the player, by increasing the game abilities of a manipulation object with a high selection rate or a manipulation object with a large number of selections. In other words, the player can get the feeling of manipulating a manipulation object having game abilities that are higher than normal and thus play a game that feels more satisfying, by selecting and playing with a manipulation object that has a high selection rate or a manipulation object that has a large number of selections.
(4) In the game system of the present invention, the selection processing means may comprise:
means for executing processing for displaying information indicating selection assessments for each of the manipulation objects, on the display means; and
means for displaying on the display means information indicating the plurality of selectable manipulation objects, and for executing processing for enabling a player to select any manipulation object.
An information storage medium in accordance with this aspect of the invention is an information storage medium which can be used by a computer and which comprises information (a program) for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention is a program that can be used by a computer for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention could also be embodied in a carrier wave.
(5) A game system of this invention comprises:
means for storing information concerning a plurality of manipulation objects that have been allocated to different regions;
means for storing game ability information for the manipulation objects;
means for executing processing for displaying on a display means information indicating manipulation objects that can be selected for use in a game, based on information concerning the plurality of manipulation objects;
means for selecting from the selectable manipulation objects a manipulation object for use in a game;
means for executing game computations to allow a player to play a game using the thus selected manipulation object;
means for computing previous selection assessments for each of the manipulation objects; and
means for executing processing for displaying information indicating selection assessments for each of the manipulation objects, on the display means, when the manipulation object is selected.
In this case, the means for executing the game computations could set the abilities of manipulation objects and execute the game computations on the basis of abilities information within the game of the selected manipulation object.
An information storage medium in accordance with this aspect of the invention is an information storage medium which can be used by a computer and which comprises information (a program) for implementing (executing) the above described means. A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention is a program that can be used by a computer for implementing (executing) the above described means A program in accordance with this aspect of the invention could also be embodied in a carrier wave.
(6) In a game system, information storage medium, and program in accordance with this invention, the selectable manipulation objects may be set as teams or characters that have been allocated to different regions; and the game may be set to be a competitive type of game in which a selected team or character competes against another team or character.
In this case, specific examples of manipulation objects that have been allocated to different regions are baseball or soccer teams sponsored by those regions. Similarly, characters allocated to those areas could be sumo wrestlers or the like, who are from those regions. These are equivalent to sumo wrestlers from Hokkaido and sumo wrestlers from Osaka.
Examples of this competitive type of game are baseball and soccer as competitive games for teams, or sumo as a competitive game for characters.
Use of the above described configuration makes it possible to provide a more interesting game by allowing the player to select a manipulation object that reflects the player""s own allegiances towards the manipulation object, when selecting a team or character that is the manipulation object.
In this case, it is possible to implement a game that is extremely satisfying to the players in that it reflects the allegiances of players to the manipulation objects, by using a configuration in which adjustment of the game abilities of manipulation objects is based on the selection assessments of the manipulation objects.
The team or character that is favorite in each region will naturally have a higher selection count. This means that the game abilities of a team or character that is favored in a certain region can be increased by using a configuration in which the game abilities are increased with increasing selection count or selection rate, which represents the selection assessment of each manipulation object. This means that, when the player selects a team for playing the game that is the favorite in the region in which the player lives, the player can select that team after learning that the team that is the player""s own favorite is popular, and the player can also get the feeling that the selected team is stronger than other teams, when playing with that team. It is therefore possible to give the player a higher sense of satisfaction.
In addition, if the player plays the game at a game machine or game terminal that is installed in a region that differs from the region in which the player lives, such as when a player from Hiroshima plays in Tokyo, the player can also know that the selection rate of a team from Hiroshima, which is the player""s home region, is high from the data indicating the selection assessments that is displayed during team selection. In this case too, it is possible to give the player a large sense of satisfaction with respect to the game.